Latest news with #AustinCarr
Business Insider
08-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Amazon's Rufus AI is a year old as Prime Day is here. So it's time to ask: Is it any good?
It's one year in for Amazon's AI bot — named Rufus — that promised to help answer all your product questions. So, just in time for Amazon Prime Day, it's time to ask: How's Rufus working? Last year, I thought it was only so-so, but it's worth catching up to see if it's improved. After trying it out again on Monday, I have to say: It has improved in some ways. (Want to know how long the battery life on that camping lantern is? Rufus can help!) But it also might be that I've now better adjusted my expectations for AI in general: After a year of Rufus, ChatGPT, Perplexity — all of it! — I've sort of learned how to temper my expectations. Sometimes, AI will get it right, and sometimes … it won't. Being AI, there's also some weirdness. On the Amazon homepage, I asked in the little "Ask Rufus" box what I should buy for Prime Day. It answered with a link to information about Prime membership. Hmm … not quite what I was looking for. When I tried again, this time asking "What are some of the best Prime Day deals?" it did give me a list of items — the Echo Show, Kindle Paperwhite, a Ring doorbell, an Echo Dot, and a Fire TV Stick. I noticed that all of these recommendations were Amazon products. Maybe Rufus is trained to promote Amazon's own wares, or maybe those were indeed some of the most popular and deepest discounted Prime Day items. (Amazon usually does steeply discount its own stuff for Prime Day.) Amazon appears to think that the AI shopping assistant is helping its bottom line. In April, Business Insider's Eugene Kim obtained internal documents from Amazon that had predictions that Rufus was already indirectly contributing to the company's operating profit. Testing Amazon's 'Rufus' As far as my test this time around, there was one thing I found particularly frustrating — and something I encountered more than once. When I asked Rufus for product recommendations for an item that could have lots of options — like for a beach coverup, for instance — it gave me a list of products, but no links. Just item numbers. I suppose I could copy and paste those numbers into the search bar to look up the products? But frankly, I'd be just as happy searching "beach coverups" and browsing visually. I'm not sure how Rufus's help is really better than Amazon's own traditional search here. I asked Amazon corporate if there were specific new features added to Rufus over the last year; a spokesperson pointed me to an internal blog post on new AI-enabled features, including Rufus, which it describes as "having a shopping assistant with you any time you're in our store." Bloomberg's Austin Carr also recently tried Rufus and found it lacking. When he asked a particular question about a car accessory for his Subaru, it answered that the accessory would definitely fit a Maserati. (Perhaps Rufus is being sycophantic here by upgrading his ride?!) My colleague Ana Altcheck tried Rufus when it debuted last year, and she pointed out at the time that Amazon can be hard to navigate — you can't exactly find things you don't even know exist on the site. In theory, Rufus can help with that. For now, I still prefer the ancestral methods of Amazon shopping: reading through curated lists of good deals or products, or typing into the search bar the things that I know I want.
Bloomberg
07-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Amazon's Shopping Bot Falls Short of Prime Performance
Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg's journalists around the world. Today, Austin Carr looks at the performance of Amazon's shopping bot, Rufus. Internet blackouts: Russia is regularly switching off mobile internet connections in large swaths of the country for security reasons. There were a record 654 mobile data shutdowns in regions across the country in June, hitting banking apps, delivery services and taxi networks.
Bloomberg
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Bloomberg
Apple's iTunes Store Offers a Lesson About Control
As Apple celebrates 10 years of its streaming music service, Austin Carr says it's worth taking a look back at how it came to replace the iTunes marketplace and what that story might mean for the future of the App Store. Plus: Climate change is shaking up the olive oil industry, and Dubai chocolate is just the beginning for pistachio lovers. If this email was forwarded to you, click here to sign up.
Bloomberg
26-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
ChatGPT's Improved Memory Points Toward a More Personal AI
Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter with reporting and analysis about the business of tech from Bloomberg's journalists around the world. Today, Austin Carr reports on the improvements recently announced to the major consumer chatbots that have made it easier for them to know more about their users. OpenAI expansion: The artificial intelligence company has established a legal entity in South Korea and plans to open an office in Seoul as it seeks to propel further adoption of its products.
Bloomberg
12-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
The iPhone Is a Nicer Place With Fewer Restrictions After Ruling
By Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter with reporting and analysis about the business of tech from Bloomberg's journalists around the world. Today, Austin Carr looks at the impact of the latest ruling ordering Apple to reform its App Store practices. Chip hunger: TSMC's revenue jumped 48% in April as electronics companies rushed to acquire essential components before escalating US tariffs took effect.
